OBSERV'ATIONS. 311 



hawk high in the air, he would squat close to the ground, 

 expressing strong marks of fear. The female was very 

 shy. A tolei-ably good resemblance of the male is in 

 Pennant's British Zoology, v. i. p. 284. 



P. 167 ' Concerning swallows, the reader will see, 

 that Mr. White appears to incline more and more in 

 favour of their ior-pidity, and against their migration. 

 Mr. D. Harrington is still more positive on the same side 

 of the question. See his Miscellanies, p. 225. The 

 ancients generally mention this bird, as wintering in 

 Africa. See Anacreon, Xy. ed. Brunk. p. 38. The 

 lihodians had a festival called yiXitovix, when the boys 

 brought about young swallows; the song which they 

 sang, may be seen in the works of Meursius. v. iii. 

 p. 974. fol. 



"HX^i, "HXfie, ^iX/So/f xaXa?, 

 'Clfotq ayovo^a, xa< xotKovi "Eviaivrov^ 

 "ett* ya-arifx Kivnot, K<x,'ni jtura (jLsXxivx. 



** He comes ! He comes ! who loves to bear 

 " Soft sunny hours, and seasons fair ; — 

 " The swallow hither comes to rest 

 " His sable wing, and snowy breast." 



And alluding to this custom, Avienus, (who may be 

 considered only as a very bad translator of an excellent 

 poem, the Periegesis of Dionysius), thus says, v. 705, 



" Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat, 

 Culminibusq. cavis, blandum strepit ales hirundo 

 Gens devota choros agitat !" 



